Ahead of 2026 Assembly polls, CM Mamata going on a 3-day visit to North Bengal; TMC expects more Oppn leaders to join party
To bolster Trinamool Congress's (TMC) influence in North Bengal, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will be on a three-day visit to the region from May 19, especially when the 2026 Assembly election is barely a few months away.
Days before her visit, the party camp received a shot in the arm as former Union Minister of State and BJP MP John Barla switched over to TMC on May 15. The party workers have an inkling that the CM's visit to North Bengal will influence more Opposition leaders to TMC and thereby strengthen their base in a fairly weaker front in North Bengal.
Banerjee has already announced that on Monday, she will attend a 'synergy' business conference and on Tuesday, a government distribution programme at Odlabari.
The main programme of the Chief Minister is on Wednesday, where she will participate in an administrative review meeting at Uttar Kanya, where officials of all district administrations will participate. District officials of Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar, and Coochbehar will attend the meeting physically, while officials of Maldah, Uttar Dinajpur, and Dakshin Dinajpur will attend the meeting virtually.
'After this year's Durga Puja, the state will enter the election mode. So, we have four to five months to complete all the development work. The Chief Minister wants to review all these works and set a timeline to complete all the projects properly,' a senior officer of state administration said.
On the other hand, the party leadership expects Banerjee to give necessary advice to the district leadership ahead of the Assembly election.
A senior TMC leader expressed optimism in improving their result in North Bengal. 'Not only John Barla, another BJP MLA, Suman Kanjilal joined our team, which has also strengthened our organisation. We are expecting more BJP MLAs and leaders to join our party, and we will knock down the footings of the BJP in North Bengal. This time the BJP may gain in South Bengal, but they will lose in North Bengal.'
Atri Mitra is a Special Correspondent of The Indian Express with more than 20 years of experience in reporting from West Bengal, Bihar and the North-East. He has been covering administration and political news for more than ten years and has a keen interest in political development in West Bengal.
Atri holds a Master degree in Economics from Rabindrabharati University and Bachelor's degree from Calcutta University. He is also an alumnus of St. Xavier's, Kolkata and Ramakrishna Mission Asrama, Narendrapur.
He started his career with leading vernacular daily the Anandabazar Patrika, and worked there for more than fifteen years. He worked as Bihar correspondent for more than three years for Anandabazar Patrika. He covered the 2009 Lok Sabha election and 2010 assembly elections. He also worked with News18-Bangla and covered the Bihar Lok Sabha election in 2019. ... Read More
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Indian Express
30 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Parents should rethink if kids should be allowed to go so far: MP CM on Meghalaya murder
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav on Wednesday said the murder of Indore resident Raja Raghuvanshi during his honeymoon in Meghalaya is a 'horrific incident' which should make people think 'if children should be allowed to go so far'. CM Yadav said, 'The Sonam Raghuvanshi-Raja Raghuvanshi incident is a lesson for society as well as a very painful incident. When two families come together through marriage, things need to be taken care of very minutely. Letting children go so far also needs to be thought about. I am hurt by this incident…' State Cabinet Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya said, 'It's a good thing to get your children educated but they should also be taught culture. Children who don't have culture become Sonam. Our Indore's reputation has been smeared by that daughter. Whenever I go, people ask me about this incident. I feel ashamed talking about it.' Indore Mayor Pushyamitra Bhargava said he regrets if strong local reactions regarding the murder of Raja Raghuvanshi in Meghalaya have negatively impacted the northeastern state's image or its tourism. The Congress party hit back at the statements of the BJP leaders, calling it an example of conservative thinking. Party spokesperson Mukesh Nayak said, 'This is a conservative thinking of BJP leaders; giving such statements is not right. Instead they should focus on improving women's safety in this state.'
Indian Express
37 minutes ago
- Indian Express
PM has put country on path of long-term growth, says Ashwani Vaishnaw
The BJP on Wednesday highlighted the 'transformation in the lives of an average Indian citizen' as well as the strides in both the country's economy and its standing in the global order in the last 11 years of the Narendra Modi-led NDA government at the Centre. Union Minister Ashwani Vaishnaw gave a presentation on the 11 years of 'seva (service)', 'sushashan (good governance)' and 'gareeb kalyan (welfare of the poor)' under PM Modi's leadership. He said 'humongous tasks' had been fulfilled under the Prime Minister's leadership to put the country on the path of 'long-term growth'. Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, BJP national president Jagat Prakash Nadda, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari besides national spokespersons and senior party leaders attended the event organised at Bharat Mandapam in the presence of senior editors and journalists from the print media. The presentation focussed on statistics related to 12 'big picture' achievements in each sector ranging from the welfare of the poor and the marginalised to the welfare of farmers and women's empowerment, ease of living for the middle class, infrastructure development, affordable healthcare and enhancement of India's per capita income from a little over `86,000 to `2 lakh, among others. In addition to this, the Union Minister also sought to underscore the changes in the very 'vision' of governance undertaken by PM Modi since taking over in 2014 with the welfare of both the nation and its citizens at their core. 'Earlier, there was competition among districts when it came to being declared 'backward', but PM Modi's vision is different; these became not backward but aspirational districts… Under his government, the economy of the very country which enslaved us for 150 years has been surpassed… 'Defence agents', once common in Delhi's corridors, are now a thing of the past,' Vaishnaw said. 'Instead of breaking the back of Naxalism, earlier governments used to only acknowledge its presence across what was called the 'Red Corridor'… Article 370 was treated as a given, something that nothing could be done about, but not any more… No other Prime Minister before him made an announcement as crucial to the welfare of our girl children as the provision of sanitary pads at `1, (a promise) made from the Red Fort,' he said. Vaishnaw also underlined India's stature as a global leader when it came to the indigenous Unified Payments Interface (UPI), through which digital transactions of an estimated `214 lakh crore had been done till January during the 2024-25. Jatin Anand is an Assistant Editor with The Indian Express. Over the last 15 years, he has covered bureaucracy & politics, crime, traffic & intelligence, the Election Commission of India & Urban Development among other beats. He is an English (Literature) graduate from Zakir Husain Delhi College, DU & specialised in Print at the Asian College of Journalism (ACJ), Chennai. He tweets @jatinpaul ... Read More
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
BSP plans to increase its tally to 30, chalks out poll strategy
Nagpur: After BJP and Congress, it is the Bahujan Samaj Party ( BSP ) that is a major player in the Nagpur civic body polls, even emerging the third-largest party in the 2017 polls. With 10 seats under its belt, BSP is now gearing up to increase the tally to 30 and has chalked out a strategy for the same. BSP leader Prakash Gajbhiye said, "A huge population resides in slums and lower-income areas within Nagpur city, and those in power have neglected this completely. I can show you so many places in Nagpur where there is no proper sewage system, no proper roads, and the water supply is also not regular. People have realised that BJP or Congress will never solve these problems; hence they will turn to BSP for that." The party has also worked out their targeted seats in the NMC assembly constituencies, highlighting their preparedness. Gajbhiye said, "Our maximum seats will come from North Nagpur, for which our target is 15. The next highest will be from South-West, where we hope to bag around seven seats. Then in the West and South, our target is three each. And for Central, it is two seats. Now, this is the minimum target, but we are confident of getting much more. " He added that BJP's strategy of regularisation of land and building pucca homes, which can help connect with voters, won't work in the polls. Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Memperdagangkan CFD Emas dengan salah satu spread terendah? IC Markets Mendaftar Undo "This scheme, to provide housing for the poor, was started by Behenji (Mayawati), so BJP is simply doing a copy and paste of that formula," said Gajbhiye. Regarding Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), Gajbhiye said, "People now realise that VBA won't be able to have any impact on their lives. We have been representing Nagpurians' voices in the civic body for a long time, so we have a proven track record." Their ace up the sleeve is party chief Mayawati herself. "We are planning for two major rallies in Maharashtra. One will be in Mumbai and the other in Nagpur. If Behenji holds a rally, then the entire voting dynamic changes at one stroke," said Gajbhiye.
